Abstract
Identification of alleles that improve crop production and lead to higher-yielding varieties are needed for food security. Here we show that the quantitative trait locus WFP (WEALTHY FARMER'S PANICLE) encodes OsSPL14 (SQUAMOSA PROMOTER BINDING PROTEIN-LIKE 14, also known as IPA1). Higher expression of OsSPL14 in the reproductive stage promotes panicle branching and higher grain yield in rice. OsSPL14 controls shoot branching in the vegetative stage and is affected by microRNA excision. We also demonstrate the feasibility of using the OsSLP14WFP allele to increase rice crop yield. Introduction of the high-yielding OsSPL14WFP allele into the standard rice variety Nipponbare resulted in increased rice production.
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Acknowledgements
We thank K. Imamura for providing the detailed protocol for in situ hybridization, S. Mizuno for maintenance of the paddy field and E. Kouketsu and K. Sakata for helping to produce transgenic plants. This work was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan (Integrated Research Project for Plants, Insects and Animals using Genome Technology, QTL-1001).
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H.K., M.M. and M.A. designed the research. K.M., M.I., A.M., X.-J.S., M.I. and K.A. conducted the research. K.M., X.-J.S., H.K. and M.A. wrote the paper.
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Miura, K., Ikeda, M., Matsubara, A. et al. OsSPL14 promotes panicle branching and higher grain productivity in rice. Nat Genet 42, 545–549 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.592
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.592
